Fitzy’s 5 Recap

On a perfect spring morning in Adelaide, the Fitzy’s 5km road race returned to the streets after an unfortunate forced cancellation in 2020. Named after David Fitzsimons who holds the South Australian state record over 5000m, the event has become well renowned as a great opportunity to record a personal best over that distance. The 2021 edition certainly didn’t disappoint, and RunAsOne athletes enjoyed a 79% PB rate, while also making up 20% of the entire field! These participation levels, paired with the level of performance from each runner made the morning very special for everyone involved. Specifically, here’s how everyone went:

Making a habit of being the first RunAsOne singlet over the line, Luke Mitchell continued his run of personal bests storming home in 15:09 just ahead of Tom Lancaster in 15:20 (PB). These two worked well together throughout the first part of the race before Luke made his trademark move late in the race. Clayton Warden-Flood was not far behind them in 15:31 as he scored himself a 14 second PB. Nathan Dowie moved through the field patiently to score a PB of 15:46 and add his name to the sub 16 list, alongside Pat Hunt who finished in 15:52! Agonisingly close to that barrier Ryan Haylock and Josh Young kept each other accountable finishing just one second apart in 16:02 and 16:03 respectively. These times are significant personal bests for this pair as well. Oscar Bloomfield can also reasonably target that 16 minute barrier next time as he was next home for the team in 16:22 (PB). James Fox was next in 16:34 and scored himself a PB, while also giving Brant Lang something to chase as he closed well to score his first sub 17 performance finishing in 16:49. Behind Brant, Matthew Dimonte decided he’d take 20 seconds off of his PB and run 16:51, ahead of Mark Routley who nearly skipped the 17 minute barrier altogether recording a time 17:00 for his first time under 18 minutes for the distance! Eyeing off that 17 minute barrier next time will be Matt Warner and Angus Juers who finished in 17:10 (PB) and 17:12 respectively, split by a phenomenal run from Issie Hume who shaved 34 seconds off of her PB as she finished in 17:11 as well. We will wait for the official results, but we believe Issie has again featured in the top 5 female performances at a state championship. Behind her, Jack White (17:21 PB), Matt Ormsby (17:22 PB) and Timon Sideris (17:24 PB) led home Zoe Toland (17:28 PB) who may also have finished in a top 5 position at a state championship! If so, this betters Zoe’s 6th place performance at the state 1500m championship on the track earlier this year! Behind Zoe, Bailey Booth followed closely ahead of Luca Wagner in personal bests of 17:34, and 17:37 respectively. This was the first time both Luca and Bailey have been under 18 minutes, so it was a milestone morning for this pair who have done the hard work recently.

So, the next big barrier on the clock became 18 minutes, and the faster finishers quickly turned to spectators in an attempt to get their team mates over the line in personal best times. At the top of the finish chute, Nikki Austin (17:56) and Thomas Cooper (17:58) appeared, flying home to record PB’s and break that barrier for the first time! Behind them, that barrier becomes the goal next time for Margo Muir, Sophie Hlipala, Jack Blake, and Tash Jarrett who all ran Personal bests finishing in 18:07 (road PB), 18:13, 18:18, and 18:19 respectively! Behind that quartet, Andrew Heathershaw ran a 13 second PB in 18:28, ahead of Nick Mallia who finished in 18:36. Nick Stokoe was 10 seconds faster than he’s ever been before finishing next in 18:43, just ahead of Lachlan Hunt who skipped the 19’s and ran 18:45 (PB)! As the 19 minute barrier ticked over, the next to appear at the top of the chute was Tim Scott who ran strongly after some interrupted training to finish in 19:23, ahead of a sprint to the line between Olivia Buchanan (19:35 PB), Meg Toland (19:37 PB), and Jonny Pisanelli (19:37 PB)! This was the first time Olivia and Jonny have been under the very popular sub 20 minute barrier, meaning they averaged under 4:00 for every km! After playing the role of pacemaker for this group, Coralie Duckworth also joined them under 20 minutes in 19:47. Two runners then finished outside of 20 minutes, but inside of 21 minutes! Paul Sideris ran strongly to finish in 20:20 ahead of a PB run from Gus Wilson in 20:47! Noa Goddard was next home alongside Callum McCartney as he continues his recovery from a stress fracture. Noa and Callum both finished in a personal best time of 21:17! Both of these runners have a lot more in the tank! Ben O’Brien, Michelle Leyden, Alison Sorrell and Ola Wicik chased these two home. Ben finished in 21:21 (PB), close to Alison, Michelle, and Ola who all ran around 21:30 unofficially; this is a very well deserved 60 second PB for Ola! After the 22 minute barrier ticked over it was Caity Nancarrow who ran a whopping 2 minute PB to finish in 22:13! She finished ahead of Steve Goddard who was brave early pacing Noa to a much faster time, and Rosey Batt who enjoyed an Olympic pacing job from coach Izzi Batt-Doyle to finish in 22:24.

Once again, new barriers started to appear on the race clock, and the crowd at the finish line was growing increasingly larger. The next runners to finish were able to enjoy even more support than those who came before them! Matthew Cooper and Linda Follet made the most of this scoring a PBs of 23:15 and 23:21, just ahead of Helen Allnutt in an equal PB of 23:34! Mardi Olsen-Daley followed these two super mums home to earn her own PB of 24:20; nearly 60 seconds faster than she’s ever gone! Sharlene Vears joined the PB club taking just 24:30 to complete the course ahead of Issy Tucker who was next home in 24:32 despite taking it easy with some injury concerns. Helping Mardi early, Andrew Smith dropped back to support Hannah Bird across the line in a new PB of 24:34. Amelia Mislov was the last of the RunAsOne runners to break the 25minute barrier on the morning (24:52) ahead of Sarah Schubert who ran a PB of 26:46! Chloe McGough was next home in a nearly 60 second PB of 27:16, just ahead of Lucy Teicher in 27:39. Rowan McKeown crossed the in a new personal best time of 28:48 just ahead of Lili Thomas, Alessandra Perna, Nicole Connolly, and Maryanne Campbell-Hand who all enjoyed a social outing running the whole way together and finishing in 28:49. Next in was mother and daughter duo Julia and Millie Vidic enjoyed the occasion while negotiating the course in under half an hour! The pair crossed the line in 29:46 which was a PB for Millie who was probably the youngest runner in the field! Behind this pair, Fiona Stokoe and Jane Shepherdson managed themselves very well to finish in 32:33 and 34:17 respectively. Both have certainly had easier days, but will be better for this one!

So that’s a wrap on the 2021 edition of the Fitzy’s 5km fun run and state 5km road championships for South Australia. As is the current trend, we would be remiss not to mention how grateful we are to be in a state free of Covid restrictions, and able to put our training to the test in an official event. The RunAsOne team continues to go from strength to strength, and we look forward to reminiscing on these results, while celebrating even more personal best performances in 2022! For now, the next stop on the calendar will be the McLaren Vale half marathon and 10km events, before we turn our focus to SA’s biggest fun run: the City to Bay!